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Is it fair to paint all the other groups joining the lawsuit with the same tainted brush? It’s instructive to note receiving donations from big energy interests to oppose Cape Wind may not be all that out of line for these plaintiffs. Decent arguments can be made by these groups that the Cape Wind project could be bad for the whales, migratory birds and the marine ecosystems they are dedicated to protecting. Then consider the prospect that these groups could be hurting for donations in the middle of this recession. It’s got to be awfully tempting not to join the fight against Cape Wind when there’s a sizable donation being made to do so AND it’s essentially within your mission statement. Yet, the more of these groups that jump on board the battle against Cape Wind and the greater their diversity, the more credible the opposition to the project becomes. (Let's not forget, an environmental impact study has been done on Cape Wind and the endorsement of the oldest environmental group in the country, Audubon, is not easily won.)

Hold the Phone! This just in. The Martha’s Vineyard Conch Fishermen have also announced their plans to fight Cape Wind. The organization was founded a year ago and now they are joining the lawsuit? Beginning to see a trend here? There’s only one special interest in the world that can buy this kind of allegiance. Coal. Maybe these plaintiffs should be asked if they’ve received any donations from fossil fuel interests before they joined in on the law suit.

Last week we wrote about the winds of change, this week it's the anchors of inertia. CNN did a great job in this story on the Cape Wind wind farm saga which hit the headlines again this week with the Wompanoag Indians promising to sue if the fed approves plans to plant 130 wind turbines in the middle of Nantucket Sound. In adding our two-cents, we'd like first to distill this argument that's lasted nine years into a paragraph or two of pros and cons. Then we offer about 500 words of reckless speculation.

Let's start with our own summary of the CNN summary concerning the non-Indian issues that have kept the wind farm in the news for nine years: Critics say the windmills from the windfarm might impede already heavy commercial fishing and ferry traffic in the area. They also say the turbines might also reduce visits to this tourist Mecca and the blades might interfere with radar systems at nearby airports. Apparently environmental damage like killing fish and birds doesn't enter into the equation anymore. In response to the boat traffic question, project proponents point out the turbines will take up 25 of Nantucket Sound's 500 square miles. As for the threat to air craft radar, this story cites experts saying better technology could solve that. The weakness of these arguments is leading to speculation—and this hilarious Daly Show segment—that the windfarm opponents are just wealthy Nantucket landowners worrying over their water views. (The federal Advisory Council on Historic Properties said the views from some 34 historic properties, including the Kennedy compound, will be effected by the wind farm.)

So far it sounds like full steam ahead for the windfarm, right? Enter the Indians. The Wompanoag are pretty much the last hurdle Cape Wind has to clear. The Indians are claiming Cape Wind will ruin a centuries-old ceremonial landscape and they are promising to sue if the project's approved. It's hard to say how far that suit will go when a Cape Wind attorney who is also son of prominent Wompanoag tribe members, is saying the ceremonies are baloney. So who do we believe here on this pivotal Indian issue? Before we make up our minds, there's one more thing to consider.

If Cape Wind is approved it could clear the way for large scale windfarms being proposed from Maine to North Carolina and probably elsewhere in the US. Do you think Big Oil and even Bigger Coal in this country might have been on the phone with the Wompanoag in the past few weeks? Reading between the headlines invites speculation that Big Energy is leveraging a molehill of an Indian tribe into a mountainous impediment to a seachange in the nation's offshore energy policy. (How's that for surplus superlatives and similes in one sentence.)

Is it unfair to assume the Indians are in line for a lot of money if their opposition works. There is a huge amount of money and industry involved. Is it also unfair to think the rich folks are acting out of pure self interest when they say the windfarm will spoil the view for everyone. The answer maybe partly yes  on both counts. Anyone who has not seen the windfarms near Palm Springs, shown here, might want to think about this. These turbines can definitely alter a landscape. Clearly, these arguments against the project give the oil and coal companies the moral muscle to make a mess out of Cape Wind. And they have. But the arguments above, when seen under the glare of global warming, make you wonder for how long? As the momentum builds behind alternative energy, Cape Wind will clearly be a turning point in this nation's energy policy. Let's get on with it.

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When we first saw this piece about the long-delayed Cape Wind wind turbine farm off Nantucket Sound possibly seeing major new delays over federal plans to draft an ocean zoning map, we prepared to pounce. What, we thought. Another delay foisted on a clean energy project by feckless politicians acting at the behest of coal and oil interests? If only it were that simple. Cape Wind, more than any other of the many contentious and politically charged issues swirling around the nation's energy policy, seemed a particularly glaring example of big-money thwarting a plan that was good for the environment and the economy. Arguments against the project always seemed weak: bird kills are much worse around glassed-in high-rise buildings, short term damage to the ocean floor will be countered by long term enhancement to marine habitat surrounding these turbine stanchions. That left less environmentally important arguments like the view from Nantucket Island and impinging on a seascape spiritually important to an Indian tribe no-one every heard of. Despite the tentative arguments against Cape Wind, one group with a $3 million budget has managed to stall the project for nearly a decade. It smacks of political payoff.

So, when these politicians and lobbyists proposed Cape Wind be shelved until the ocean zoning map is in place, it just seems like more powerful special interest stalling a profitable project with public benefit. Time to introduce a company called Winergy, which sprang out of no where about eight years ago and filed paperwork with various government agencies announcing intentions to build windfarms from Virginia to Maine. Pretty much everywhere but Nantucket Sound. What made Winergy so interesting was they started out as fish farming business called Mariculture Technologies Inc. (Not these folks.)

The point is nothing ever happened with MTI. They talked about spending massive sums of money but you could never really see where it all went. MTI eventually placed a few nets off New York's Plum Island, that got chewed up in a storm. End of the story. Then the officers of that company suddenly turned up in stories involving Winergy and all the wind turbines they planned on building. It appears these fellows specialize in navigating bureaucracies, not developing alternative energy. They get in there, buy up the rights and auction them off when the technology becomes more viable. They may not have had too much success with the fish farm, but if their expense sheets were to be believed they certainly produced massive (inflated?) tax write-offs for unknown investors. Winergy is now this company. Google News produced a smattering of headlines for the latest incarnation of my fish farm friends, but nothing like the press Cape Wind has generated.

What does all this have to do with a federal zoning map possibly being the latest effort to stall Cape Wind. Sadly the MTI/Winergy types point up exactly the need for such a zoning map, even if it means a good project, Cape Wind, could get killed as a result. Do we want a Wild West mentality when it comes to developing our national alternative energy policy? The Wingery folks freely admit they are open-ocean real estate speculators. There is no way to know how, or if, the proposed ocean zoning map will affect Winergy's windfarm claims. But, it's kind of like the folks who bought website domain names like Coca Cola for pennies in the early days of the internet hoping to force the legitimate soda maker to pay a fortune for the domain name later. If the proposed ocean zoning map enforces certain standards that weed out the fast-buck artists, even at the expense of legitimate alternative energy companies like Cape Wind, perhaps that's a good thing. It helps us take a more deliberate stab at what will hopefully be a very decisive change in this nation's energy policy. Any takers?

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Tabloids should just stay away from science stories. Case in point, this Boston Herald headline bellowing about the “Big Secret” in the Cape Wind windfarm project: millions, in “Hidden Costs.” The story cites the “hidden costs” that cropped up in a similar windfarm plan farther south to support the hysterical headline. That southern windfarm, according to the Herald, will add about $20 to the average annual electric bill in that area. Are we to assume then that these hidden costs in Cape Wind will translate into $20 annually for Bay State rate payers?

Somehow, “hidden millions” sounds a lot worse than “$20 annually.” Is the Herald deliberately distorting the story in the headline to sell papers? Perish the thought! Reading deeper, clearly the story is more tepid than the headline prompting you to read it. It goes on to point out that the hidden millions estimate is also based on unusually low natural gas prices this winter driving the windfarm's comparative power price higher. The story also notes that because the windmills tap a renewable source of energy, the prices of that wind energy will only go down over time while natural gas-generated energy prices will only rise. No mention of the fact that the windfarm will also be less polluting. Hey, if the headline doesn't draw you in, you don't read the story. And, despite the headline, it's a good story.

While we're on the subject of windfarms here's an article saying wind power could replace 20 to 30 percent of the world's oil use. However, all that wind power will do less than previously thought to curb greenhouse gases. The article adds that a lot more improvements are needed to the country's power grid before we can use all that wind power efficiently.

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The windmills proposed off Cape Cod are getting yet more ink today over a local agency's decision to challenge the state over the bundle of permits needed for the clean energy project. This time the objection is not whether the project is clean. The objection is over a state decision to allow the developers of the wind farm to seek one approval from one agency for all the various local permits needed to get the project off the ground. Once again, both sides have a point: do we really want state government preempting local authority? In this case the windmills themselves will be in federal waters, while the power lines delivering the electricity will run across communities each with their own set of zoning laws governing such projects.

The point here is the hypocrisy. Or is the word disingenuous-ness? How much local say was there when Shoreham Nuclear Power plant was built and then scuttled on Long Island in NY? Where were the local environmental commissions and planners when Spectra Energy leveled a 670 mile swath of New England wilderness to deliver natural gas from Nova Scotia to Boston? How many dozens of towns did that pipeline cross through, wiping out sensitive forest wetlands.

Forest wetlands, a.k.a. Vernal Ponds are the unsung heroes of forest woodlands, Yet entire swathes of sensitive forest wetlands and uplands were neutered to accommodate these pipelines. Just below is a Google Earth image of a section of the pipeline where it runs through Boxford, MA. Note that there is an intersection in this image, so two swathes of woodlands were cleared here. If you ever get a chance, drive through Boxford, there's a reason it's some of the priciest real estate in Massachusetts. How much say did the Boxford Conservation Commission have over this destruction?

Back to the point. In terms of sum totals, how can the environmental impact of accommodating these windmill transmission lines even compare to Spectra Energy's 670-mile right-of-way, which is maintained like a country road.

This doesn't even address the long-term benefits derived from the windmills which are a renewable resource,. The gas pipeline delivers fossil fuels. Again, the argument that local folks should have a say in regional matters is a powerful one, but you have to wonder why it's gaining such traction here when historically huge power companies have gotten what they want regardless of local objections, thanks tin large part to federal support. The feds don't appear to be getting into this Cape Wind fray.

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